Before Zack Snyder turned his sights to the DC Universe, he gave us Sucker Punch, a psychological fantasy action movie that was his first film based on an original concept. While the film was a box office and critical disappointment, it has developed a cult following over the years who have grown to appreciate the over-the-top fantasy, but Snyder believes he didn’t go far enough.
“Sucker Punch is probably the most obvious example of straightforward, pure satire that I’ve made,” Zack Snyder told Total Film. “And I still think I didn’t go far enough, because a lot of people thought that it was just a movie about scantily clad girls dancing around in a brothel. I’m like, ‘Really? Did you see Watchmen? That film is completely a superhero deconstruction from the drop, which is all Alan Moore. That’s the thing I’ve found really interesting and motivating throughout my career. And I think that, seen as a whole, it’s more obvious than on a movie-to-movie basis.“
Snyder added: “The thing that is deceiving about my movies is that I’m always trying to give the audience the movie they think they want to see, but also give them the subverted version of it at the exact same time. That notion has always been really cool and fascinating: that as filmmakers, we’re trying to sneak in the subversive thing without breaking the illusion. That’s the trick.“
Sucker Punch starred Emily Browning as Babydoll, a young girl who is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather and retreats into an alternative reality as a coping strategy and envisions a plan to help her escape. The film also starred Abbie Cornish as Sweet Pea, Jena Malone as Rocket, Vanessa Hudgens as Blondie, and Jamie Chung as Amber.
Zack Snyder spoke of the divisive reaction to Sucker Punch earlier this year. “It was a very polarizing film,” he said. “To be frank, the people I’ve run across who’ve come to me and said ‘Sucker Punch is my favorite movie’ are normally angsty teenage girls. It’s like a Morrissey song or something.” He also teased that he’d like to put together a director’s cut one of these days.